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Cotter spoke along with legislators Saturday morning at Westview Baptist Church in Martinsburg, in efforts to raise awareness of childhood poverty at the Our Children, Our Future forum.

Del. Tiffany Lawrence said in the state of West Virginia, 54 percent of all students are on free and reduced lunch, and in her district, Jefferson County, 15 percent of students fall into that category.

"Last week in Charleston, we were able to rally under the capitol dome and kick off the Our Children, Our Future Coalition," Lawrence said. "This is a statewide coalition."

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Journal photo by Michelle Horst

Del. Tiffany Lawrence discusses childhood poverty with community members at Westview Baptist Church Saturday in Martinsburg.

Del. Stephen Skinner described seeing a woman on the streets of Charleston, where the capitol building is adorned with gold, holding a sign asking for money to pay for her mother's funeral. He said that in a city decorated gold, poverty like this should not be happening.

Skinner also discussed the link between poverty and violence, using the recent shooting on Queen Street as an example.

"I think the challenge for us is that we are faced with big corporations and a lot of those interests are contrary to how we deal with poverty," Skinner said. "We have to have folks organize and who can be the voice of the people," he said, speaking to an audience filled with many people who work to fight poverty.

Cotter said running away from home led to a life of poverty, and she found herself in situations where she could have died trying to make money.

Starting from the time she was in school, she did not know how to reach out to others, because she was not raised in an environment conducive to knowing how to make friends.

By getting resources into the schools to children at a young age, that is a way to reach the root of the problem, Cotter said, because when you're little, that is when the root gets planted.

"I was very poor in spirit. I didn't know love, I didn't know hope. I can speak for the children who do not know love, who do not know hope," Cotter said. "A lot of the parents don't know it either, how are the children supposed to know if the parents don't?"

The Our Children, Our Future platform is designed for issues including family violence prevention, drug crisis, childcare funding cuts, bipartisan prison reform and food in schools. The forum in Martinsburg is one of 12 held statewide.